Apparatus for launching a boat from shipboard



Sept. 11, 1962 MARIN-MARIE DURAND-COUPPEL DE SAINT FRONT DlT MARIN-MARIE APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING A BOAT FROM SHIPBOARD 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 ,Filed April 22, 1959 Sept. 11, 1962 3,052,898. MARIN-MARIE DURAND-COUPPEL DE SAINT FRONT DlT MARIN-MARIE OR LAUNCHING A BOAT FROM SdIPBOARD APPARATUS F 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22,

Sept. 11, 1962 3,052,898

MARIN-MARIE DURAND-COUPPEL DE SAINT FRONT DIT MARIN-MARIE APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING A BOAT FROM S'rIIPBOARD Filed April 22, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sept. 11, 1962 I MARIN-MARIE DURANDCOUPPEL= DE SAINT FRONT DlT MARIN-MARIE APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING A BOAT FROM SI-IIPBOARD 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 22, 1959 A f a S Sept. 11, 1962 3,052,898

MARlN-MARIE DURAND-COUPPEL DE SAINT FRONT DlT MARINMARIE APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING A BOAT FROM SHIPBOARD 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 22, 1959 Sept. 11, 1962 MARIN-MARIE DURAND-COUPPE DIT MARINMARIE APPARATUS FOR LAUNCHING A BOAT FROM SHIPBOARD 6 Sheets Filed April 22, 1959 L DE SAINT FRO Sheet 6 ilnlted States Patent 3,052,898 Patented Sept. 11, 1962 Free 3,052,898 APPARATUS FGR LAUNCHING A BOAT FRGM SHHBOARB Marin-Marie Dnrand-Couppel de Saint Front, dit: Marin-Marie, 33 Rue Boileau, laris, France Filed Apr. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 808,190 Claims priority, application France Apr. 24, 1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 9-41) This invention relates to a boat launching apparatus whereby lifeboats, quarter-boats and other small craft of conventional construction may be quickly and safely lowered from shipboard and launched even from the higher side of a heavily listing ship.

In merchant and passenger steamers and other types of vessels, davits are generally used for launching lifeboats in case of emergency. In what is probably the most eflicient conventional boat-launching system currently in use, the boat is suspended from davits provided at the ends of a carrier mounted through rollers on a ramp sloping outboard, so that when the carrier is allowed to move under its own weight along the ramp the boat will describe an are adapted to bring it to a position clear of the gunwale of the ship, whence it can then be lowered by easing the suspending cable as by releasing a brake while further downward movement of the carrier is arrested by striking an abutment surface at the base of the ramp. The truck can then be hoisted back to its position on the ramp by a winch. Both operations can be performed without exertion of substantial muscular effort by a single crew-hand and in fact a single operator can actually manage the launching of two boats almost simultaneously.

However, even with the highly elaborate lifeboat operating systems just described, it has been observed in recent disasters involving modern vessels equipped with these systems that the lifeboats positioned on the higher side of the heavily listing ship could not be safely lowered all the way down and cast afloat. In view of the list the boats on that side were not able to clear the projections n the steel hull and/ or promenade deck and either founered or were badly damaged. Thus only about half the ships complement of lifeboats, i.e. that on the lower or isting side, were available for performing their lifesaving function.

The situation just described is common to all types of conventional boat-launching systems using davits and, although attempts have been made to overcome this difficulty by the use of inflatable rafts or boats of various types as rescue craft, in my opinion they do not bring any satisfactory solution to the problem consisting of lowering safely and quickly boatloads of passengers while avoiding their climbing down the side of the hull or jumping into the water.

It is therefore an object of this invention to improve the rescue equipment on board ships while retaining the standard construction of lifeboats substantially unaltered, and for this purpose to provide a new and improved boat launching system usable with generally standard structure of both the carrier ship and the carried boat, whereby to enable the boats with their lead of human lives to be safely lowered and cast afloat under all emergency conditions including a condition in which the side of the ship on which the boat is positioned is tilted steeply upwards due to a heavy list of the ship towards the other side.

In one important aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for launching a boat from shipboard, which comprises in combination a boat carrier structure including releasable means for swingingly supporting the ends of a boat therebetween, fender means, such as rubher-tired wheels, at the base of said structure to permit movement thereof transverse to said boat, and a launching ramp on the ship extending athwartships and including an inboard upper ramp portion sloping downward in an outboard direction and an outboard ramp portion dropping sheer over the side of the ship, releasable means being provided for normally retaining said carrier structure with a boat thereon on shipboard with said fender means resting on said inboard portion of the ramp, and cable means for easing said structure and boat bodily down the ramp and over the side of the boat on release of said retaining means, with said fender means riding down the side of the ship.

The ramp is preferably provided in the form of a pair of U-sh-aped frames or girders or channels spaced fore-aft of the ship and each adapted to receive one pair of said fenders therein.

The fenders mentioned above are preferably in the form of wheels having resilient n'ms or solid or inflated tires. It will be understood however that other shockabsorbing means, not necessarily rotatable, might in some cases be used as fenders instead of wheels.

The carrier structure may comprise a pair of end frames each supported on a pair of wheels and longitudinal girders interconnecting the end frames at a relative spacing to accommodate the boat between them, and the boat suspending means on each frame being so positioned with respect to the points at which the wheels are journalled, that with said wheels riding the generally vertical surface of the ships side the gun-Wale of the boat will be held clear of said surface and spaced therefrom by a prescribed amount.

The boat suspending means may comprise a pair of V-shaped stirrup members firmly engaging the sides of the boat at each end and adapted to rest upon pivots projecting from the end frames and releasably latched on said pivots by suitable latching means operable from within the boat to release the boat from the carrier structure. The arrangement is such that the boat is able to swing freely about said pivots. The carrier structure is suspended through cables operated by means of a winch.

In a modified embodiment of the suspending means each end frame of the carrier structure is provided with a davit, the boat is suspended from both davits of the carrier, and the carrier with the boat thereon is suspended through cables that are selectively operable to lower the truck with the boat bodily or to lower the boat alone in which case the truck is only allowed to move down a limited amount to a point at which its davits project outboard to clear completely the side of the ship.

The above and further features of the invention and the advantages thereof will appear as the description proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are exemplary rather than restrictive:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational side View of a ships boat secured on a carrier structure according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a corresponding view in plan;

FIGURE 3 is an end view corresponding to FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a detail view showing the means for latching an end frame on its launching ramp or U-shaped frame;

FIGURE 5 is a detail view showing the boat in stowed and latched condition;

FIGURE 6 is a detail exploded View of the means for latching the boat on its carrier structure;

FIGURE 7 is a general showing of apparatus according to the invention in various stages of a boat launching process in the absence of list;

FIGURE 8 shows the launching process in case of a listing of the ship towards the launching side;

FIGURE 9 is similar to FIGURES 7 and 8 but shows the ship listing away from the side from which the boat is being launched;

FIGURE 10 is similar to FIGURE 7 but relates to a modified form of the invention;

' FIGURE 11 is a detail view showing the means for suspending the boat from the carrier in the modification of FIGURE 10;

FIGURES l2 and 13 illustrate the last mentioned modification during a boat launching process under the same conditions, as those'in FIGURES 8 and 9 respectively; and

FIGURE 14 is a detail perspective view of the means for latching the boat to the carrier in the last mentioned modification.

Referring first to the embodiment illustrated in FIG- URES l to 9, apparatus according to the invention comprises a boat carrying structure 1 which, in the normal condition is positioned on and latched to :a stationary launching ramp (see FIGURE 7) comprising a pair of supports 2 spaced fore-aft and positioned generally on a level with the upper deck of the ship, each support having a channel or U-shaped girder 3, 3a secured thereon, at a slope of about 30% to the horizontal plane, and sloping downwardly in an outboard direction.

The boat carrier structure 1 comprises a pair of vertical end frames 6 and 6a interconnected by spaced longitudinal girders 5. Instead of a complete four-sided frame with two side members such as 5, the carrier may if desired include only a single centrally disposed longitudinal member such as 5 with the two end frames 6, 6a connected across its opposite ends so as to provide a double-T structure.

Each end frame 6, may desirably comprise, as shown especially in FIGURE 3, two projecting legs 7a, 7b and a head 70, with the legs 7a, 719 having wheels 8a, 8b 'journalled on them so that both pairs of wheels provide 'a rectangular support for the boat carrier. as shown are directed to ride transversely of the boat and are fitted with yielding tires, which may be solid rubber or inflatable. If desired, each leg 7a, 7b may carry a pair of twin wheels rather than a single one. Desirably low-pressure, large-section inflatable tires are used.

The upwardly projecting head 70 of each end frame carries a strong pivot or spindle 9 projecting from its end. The pivots relating to both end frames of each truck serve to support the stem and stern of a boat be- The wheels tween them, by way of inverted V-shaped stirrups 10,

the construction of which is well apparent from the exploded view of FIGURE 6. Each stirrup has a pair of sweptback arms adapted firmly to engage the sides of the stern and stem of the boat, respectively preferably by way of suitable reinforcing means. If desired the arms of each stirrup may engage the sides of a launching cradle such as 11 in FIGURE 3. The top of each stirrup 10 at the junction of its branches is adapted to seat upon the related pivot 9, so asto accommodate swinging of the boat with rolling of the ship while affording a firm support for it. Releasable latching means 12 (see FIGURE 6) are provided for preventing separation between the stirrups and their pivots or spindles 9 as under strong jolts. The latching means as shown comprise a rod 13 slidable through a boss 14 in the stem or stem of the boat and projecting from the boat into engagement with the corresponding pivot or spindle 9, and a suitable linkage such as a lever 15 is'provided for shifting the latch rod 13 between its projected and retracted positions. Longitudinal shifting motions of the boat are prevented by the provision of a flange 17 on each pivot or spindle 9 cooperating with a transverse slot 16 formed across the top of the stinup.

The boat carrier 1 with the boat C supported thereon isj supported upon the U-shaped girders 3, 3a of the ramp, with the wheels of the end frames freely received 4? in the channels of the U-shaped girders, so that due to the slope of the girders the carrier structure and boat are urged by gravity down the girders in the outboard direction. As shown in FIGURES 4, 5 and 7, the carrier-and-boat assembly is normally retained in the normal or stowed position described by cables 18 having one end attached fast to a carrier end frame at a single point 19 or at more than one point if desired by a suitable spider or the like, and the cable being wound about the sheave of an electrically operated winch 20 (see FIGURE 7) a brake 21 being provided for controlling the rate at which the structure is lowered. Safety latch means are provided separately for the carrier and the boat. Suitable latching means for latching the carrier is shown at 22, 23 and 24 in FIGURE 4, and suitable means for latching the boat are shown at 25 in FIGURE 5. The detailed construction of these latching devices need not be described since various appropriate types are known, but they should be readily and quickly releasable by hand, as with levers 22a, 24a, 25a.

In FIG. 7, it will be particularly noted that point 19 is located between pivot 9 and inboard roller 8b. The importance of this becomes apparent in position II where it can be seen that the Weight of the boat concentrated at pivot 9 tends to pivot carrier 1 counter-clockwise around point 19 which is efiectively a pivot. This urges each wheel 8a against wall B to minimize bumping and so forth.

A boat launching operation will now be described with reference to FIGURE 7 wherein it can be seen that rollers Ba and 8b define with the associated pivot 9 an angle B which totals with angle A, between the ramp and the horizontal deck, an angle of less than This produces a greater stability by locating the pivots 9 inboard of the outboard rollers 8a.

The latches 22 to 25 are firstreleased. The carrier 1 is now retained only by the cables 18 fast at 19 to the end frames and reaved about guide pulleys 26. The crewman then releases the brake gradually to ease the structure at a controlled rate, with the wheels supporting the end frames travelling down the girders 3, 3a. As will be clear from FIGURE 7 the downward sloping upper sections of each girder are followed by an arcuate section merging into a vertical lower end section, and in order to enable the end frames of the carrier 1 readily to clear this arcuate section as well as other projections on the side of the ships the end frames are formed, as shown, with a corresponding arcuate concavity 6a between the two wheel-supporting legs 7a and 7b. On reaching the end of the ramp tracks 3, 3a, the end frames and the entire carrier 1 are bodily rotated to the positions shown in chain lines at 11 in FIGURE 7, while the boat continues to retain itshorizontal condition due to the relative pivoting of the stirrups about the pivots or spindles 9. The carrier 1 is at this time taking support against the vertical side B of the ships hull by way of its wheels.

On the boats having been lowered down to a point level with the deck P at which the passengers are to be taken aboard, the brakes are reapplied so that the boat is held at this position. At this point it will be observed that the carrier is firmly supported against the side B of the ship by way of its four wheels, so that the boat is held at a small but definite spacing .clear of the ship averting damage to the boat.

When the boat has received its full complement of passengers in the usual manner the brakes are again released and the entire assembly including the carrier structure and boatload of people resumes its downward progress, with the resilient tires of the carrier wheels engaging the side of the hull and preventing and/ or damping any dangerous swinging of the boat and impacts of it against the side of the ship. As the boat is brought down to the surface of the sea M (as at positon III, FIGURE 7) the carrier truck continues to sink beneath the buoyant boat.

Thus the boat is released of its own accord from its suspension on its longitudinal cradle where this is provided, or directly from the pivots 9 of the carrier end frames. It will be understood that the latch 13 was released at an appropriate time e.g. during the lowering process by the boats skipper. The boat is then headed away from the sinking vessel in the usual way.

In the above description it was assumed that the side of the carrier ship was substantially vertical during the boat launching operations, and I shall now consider in greater detail how these operations are affected by a heavy list of the ship to one or the other side. FIGURE 8 illustrates the case where the ship is listing towards the side from which the boat is being lowered. The conditions are then broadly similar to what occurs with conventional boat launching equipment using davits. While the descent of the boat is unimpeded by the ships hull, the danger in these circumstances is that with heavy rolling of the ship, a high wind, and/ or uncontrolled movement of the passengers in the rescue boat, the latter was heretofore liable to strike the ship with damaging force. This hazard is greatly alleviated with the apparatus of the invention owing to the shock-absorbing action of the preferably rubber-tired wheels 8a, 8b of the carrier end frames which effectively take up such impacts against the ship hull and serve as fenders. Further, rocking of the boat carrier structure may be minimized by the provision of one or more chains such as 27 (FIG. 7) having ends attached to one leg of an end frame and to a supporting cable so as to limit the amplitude of such swinging. Alternatively a similar effect is obtained with the use, as previously mentioned, of spider means for attaching the cable ends to the end frames at one or more spaced points; or both the limiting chain and the spaced-point spider attachment may be used simultaneously.

FIGURE 9 illustrates the condition where the ship is listing away from the boat being launched. As already noted this condition was heretofore regarded as especially formidable in conventional rescue operations to such an extent that frequently none of the lifeboats on the listing side could be used, sometimes with serious consequences. It is under these circumstances, then, that the present invention is of especial value. All four supporting Wheels of the carrier structure are able to ride continuously down the side of the slanting hull B, as clearly seen from FIG- URE 9, while constantly holding the boat C at a definite distance from the hull clear from any projections thereon such as side-lights, open gates and the like, owing to the high rigidity of the carrier frames relatively to the wheel axles and to the moderate pressure of the wheel rims against the hull, which is only a fraction of the pressure that would be sustained against a horizontal runway.

While the apparatus of the invention thus makes it possible to eliminate completely the seriou difiiculties encountered with conventional launching equipment, this result is achieved at the cost of only a very small increase (if any) in the weight of suspended structure. While the suspended weight is obviously somewhat greater than that of the lifeboat alone, this is partly offset by the fact that the over-all weight of the deck superstructure is substantially lessened due to the absence of conventional davits with their heavy jibs. Further, du to the reduction in impacts sustained by the boat during launching as described above, the lifeboat itself may in some cases be made more lightweight than it was heretofore found necessary.

Another important consideration is that it is frequently found very expedient in the case of a heavily listing ship to cast off as much Weight as possible from its upper decks, so that the casting off of the end frames of the boat structure 1 together with the lifeboats as described above is highly desirable.

In the embodiment of the invention so far described the boat launching apparatus may be regarded as lacking davits in the conventional sense of this term. In the modified embodiment shown in FIGURES 10 to 14, the

end frames 2 of the boat carrier structure are in effect formed as davits. As will appear from FIGURES 10 and 11, the upstanding leg of each end frame instead of being fitted with an inwardly projecting pivot or spindle for swingingly supporting, through a stirrup as above described, the adjacent stem or stern end of the boat, is formed as a short davit jib 31 with an attached suspending pulley.

The thus modified apparatus may be operated in either of two principal ways. If the ship is not listing away from the launching side, the carrier structure 1 may first be eased from the normal position I (FIGURE 10) to the position II wherein the end frames are substantially over lying the arcuate portions of the guide girders. Means are provided for automatically retaining the structure at that level from a retainer cable 33 having one end fas tened to a small truck 34 or trolley 34 riding along the under surfaces of the girders, which trolley is adapted to come up against a stop at the position 3411, whereupon the boat suspended from its cable 32 as in conventional davits, will then continue to move down to its afloat position III.

Or alternatively, the carrier structure and boat may be bodily lowered as in the first described embodiment of the system. This latter procedure is illustrated in FIG- URES 12 and 13 which respectively depict the instances where the ship is listing away from and towards the launching side.

As already mentioned, in the embodiment now being described the carrier frame is normally freely suspended at the end of its retainer cable 33 in the position 35 (FIG- URE 10). In lowering the carrier to its intermediate position II, the downward movement of the carrier is arrested by abutment against the stop 34a. This abutment may be disabled (or shifted) by means of a releasable hook 36 and the cables of the carrier structure and boat are so combined that they will allow the boat to be lowered alone when the trolley 34 abuts against the stop 34a, or will allow both the boat and its carrier structure to proceed downwardly together as explained above. The downward rate of motion would of course be controlled by conventional braking means.

FIGURE 14 illustrates one construction of the means for suspending each end of the boat from the related davit arm 31 of the adjacent carrier end frame. As shown the suspension means comprise a pair of arcuate arms 37 having a similar function to the stirrup 1!} previously described and interconnected by a crosspin 38 on which a grooved block 39 is positioned between the arms 37, the block cooperating with a T-shaped hoist hook 40 pivoted at 41 on the davit pulley-block 42. A latch 43 cooperates with the T-hook 40 to block it Within the grooved block 39, the latch being operable by Way of a pullrod 44 from within the boat to release the boat from the suspension means as she is nearing the surface of the sea.

It will be understood that the boat launching system of my invention is applicable to all manner of rescue boats, lifeboats, quarter boats and other small craft, including non-rigid inflatable boats and rafts, in which case each carrier structure may carry a plurality, say ten, deflated boats on a common cradle.

It will also be appreciated that the launching apparatus of the invention is equally operable to hoist on shipboard a boat riding alongside the ship. For this purpose the boat may be steered so as to overlie a cradle lowered from the apparatus of the invention or to a position in which the stirrups 10 can be engaged with the pivots 9 or 37, provided the boat to rescue is not of a length exceeding that of the cradle.

The carrier structure 1 in either form of embodiment described may be conveniently unloaded without external assistance together with its boat upon a wharf and there used for conveying the boat from one point to another as '7 between different wharfs or to storage, and can be shipped aboard again with great ease and expeditiousness.

What I'claim is:

1. Apparatus for launching a boat having a stem and a stern from a ship including an upper deck and an outer vertical wall, comprising a pair of stationary laterally spaced launching ramps adapted for being positioned on the. upper deck of the ship, and a boat carrying structure operatively associated therewith, each ramp comprising a U-shaped girder, said girder including a rectilinearly sloping inboard section and a curved outboard section depending downwardly therefrom and merging smoothly with the same, said inboard section sloping downwardly at a determinable angle with respect to the horizontal and outboard towards said outboard section thereby enabling said boat carrying structure to move from said inboard section to the outboard section under the influence of gravity, said outboard'section having an outboard end connected with the outer vertical wall of the ship, said girders supporting said boat carrying structure inboard of the ship and forming a rolling path directed outboard of the ship to the outer wall thereof, said boat carrying structure comprising a frame includingspaced end portions, and a connecting member rigidly connecting each of said end portions, a pair of opposed pivots fixed to said frame, collars on said pivots, inverted V-shaped coupling members fixed outboard at the stem and stern ends of the boat and swingably supported by said pivots, said V- shaped members being provided with slots to accommodate said collars, means on the boat operatively associated with the pivots for releasing the same and enabling detachment of each coupling member and the respective pivot, said means including a bolt slidable Within each of said inverted V-shaped members to lock the pivots therein, each end portion of said frame including inboard and outboard supporting legs associated with one of said girders, resilient rolling members coupled to said legs, one of said rolling members being coupled to each of said supporting legs respectively, said rolling members being constrained to rotate Within said U-shaped girders and being adapted to roll directly on the outer wall of the ship, cables coupled to said end portions between said pivots and the inboard rollers, and means coupled to said cables for lowering said boat carrying structure with the boat to the water level, said pivots and rollers defining an angle having the outboard rollers at the vertex thereof, which latter angle with said determinable angle totals less than ninety degrees.

2. Apparatus for launching a boat having a stem and a stern from a. ship including an upward deck and an outer vertical wall, said apparatus comprising a pair of stationary laterally spaced launching ramps adapted for being positioned on the upper deck of the ship, and a boat carrying structure operatively associated therewith; each ram comprising a U-shaped girder, said girder including a rectilinearly sloping inboard section and a curved outboard section depending downwardly therefrom and merging smoothly with the same, said inboard section sloping downwardly at a determinable angle with respect to the horizontal and outboard towards said outboard section .thereby. enablingsaid boat carrying structure to move from said inboard section to the outboard section under the infiuenceof gravity, said outboard sec: section having an outboard end connected with the outer vertical wall of the ship, said girders supporting said boat carrying structure inboard of the ship and forming a rolling path directed outboard of the ship to the outer wall thereof, said boat carrying structure comprising a frame including spaced end portions and a connecting member rigidly connecting said end portions, a pair of opposed pivots fixed to said frame, coupling members fixed outboard at the stem and stern of the boat and swingably supported by said pivots, means on the boat operatively associated with the pivots for locking and releasing the same and enabling detachment of each coupling member and the respective pivot, the end portions of said frame each including inboard and outboard supporting legs associated with'one of said girders, resilient rolling members coupled to said legs, one of said rolling members being coupled to each of said supporting legs respectively, said rolling members being constrained to rotate within said U-shaped girders and being adapted to roll directly on the outer wall of the ship, cables coupled to said end portions between said pivots and the inboard rollers, and means coupled to said cables for low.- ering said boat carrying structure with the boat to the water level, said pivots and rollers defining an angle, having the outboard rollers at the vertex thereof, which.

latter angle with said determinable angle totals less than ninety degrees.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said r0lling members are inflatable tires.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 comprising locking means for locking the boat carrying structure in a position of rest on said ramps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS ave-4 

